A huge pain filtered my mind and my shoulder, making me grind my teeth. I slowly stood up and looked around. That’s when I saw him.
He was standing about thirty feet away from me, watching me. Sunlight filtered into his hood, revealing his smile.
“You have a lot of guts heading back to my home,” he said as he started walking towards me. “I figured you were too scared to come back and face me like a man.” My muscles stiffened, and my hands formed into fists.
“Why would I be afraid of you?” I said. “I am just as powerful as you!” He smiled at me, laughing a little.
“Prove it!” He pushed his hands in front of him, and the trees around me collapsed, all of them falling towards me. I jumped out of the way, barely just in time. I jumped up and shot a bolt of electricity at him.
It smacked into his chest, sending him flying back and into a tree. I started flinging my hands at him, sending electricity with each swing. Almost all of them hit him, sending him farther back.
Then, he pushed his arm out in front of him, sending a log towards me and into my side. I felt my ribs cry in pain and a small cry came from my mouth. I fell to the ground, grabbing my side in agony. The man stood over me, watching and smiling at me.
I really thought I was going to die at that exact moment as the man looked down at me. But, something happened at that moment. Something that started a war.
Nick tackled the man to the ground and jumped on top of him. Before the man could react, Nick started punching him in the head. It took me a second to realize something. His fists were covered in flames. The man pushed Nick off of him and jumped up. His hood had fallen off, and his face was covered in burnt marks.
Nick looked up and ran at the man again, but he quickly stopped. He started to grab at his neck as if something was choking him. The man started to smile, but I made it disappear.
A bolt of electricity smacked into his temple, making him fall to the floor. Nick fell to his knees and started coughing, gasping for air. He quickly got back up and nodded his head at me, thanking me.
The man grunted as he shot back up and looked at us both. His eyes were filled with anger.
“You two think you can stop me? You don’t know what I’m capable of!” The trees shook around us, making leaves fall from the limbs. “I can make you lose your mind!”
Nick covered his whole arms in flames and scoffed at the man.
“And we can make you wish you were never born.” The man jumped at Nick, screaming in anger. But I shot a bolt at him, hitting him right in his ribcage. He yelped as he landed, holding his side. Nick grabbed him and threw him against a tree. The man didn’t try to run at us, he just stood there at the tree as he held his side in pain.
He fell to the ground as Nick socked him in the jaw with his flame-covered hands, causing another burn on his face. The man screamed in agony.
The man jumped up and stared at Nick right in the eyes.
“Yeah, that’s right!” he yelled. “Kill me! Kill me just like you did with little Anna! Make me burn in your flames!”
Nick stopped and stared at the man in disbelief.
“Don’t you dare talk about my sister like that!” he yelled. “I swear to God I will kill you!”
“Do it! Make me feel what she felt when she was betrayed by her own brother!”
“Shut up!” Nick punched the man right in the temple, making him fall to the ground. The man started to laugh.
“I feel sorry for you! It must be the worst feeling knowing that you burnt your sister alive!”
Nick punched him in the head twice, causing more burns.
“Shut the hell up! I will burn you until you’re nothing but bones!”
“Do it! I dare you!”
Nick punched the man and grabbed him by his collar, throwing him into a tree. The man staggered back up, but Nick fell to his knees. He grabbed his hair and started to scream. It got hotter and hotter in a matter of seconds. All of a sudden, fire started to form all around Nick, spiraling and raising into the air. He was having a meltdown.
I turned and ran, running and picking up Karen as she laid on the ground. I carried her and ran as fast as I could. I could hear the sound of wind as it rushed past us, going in the opposite direction. I turned my head and saw what looked like a tornado forming where Nick was. A tornado of fire.
My heart started to race and I kept running. The temperature of the woods got incredibly hot, rising faster with each second. I could hear the fire tornado as it grew in size and heat.
I kept running until I came up on a hill. I stopped and set Karen down against a tree. I looked back, and what I saw made my heart stop.
The fire tornado had grown to a massive size. Trees caught flame all around it, sending thick, black smoke into the air. Karen slowly became conscious, and gasped. She jumped up and started to run towards it, but I grabbed her arm.
“No!” she yelled. “You have to let me go!”
“Are you crazy? You’ll be killed!”
“I’m the only person that can stop him! I can use my Telekinesis to push him out of the tornado and make it stop!” I stared at her, then at the giant, fire tornado. Then, I let her go.
She ran off down the hill and disappeared into the trees. I sprinted after her and caught up. We both started to sweat as we got closer and closer. We stopped once we got as close as possible without getting set on fire.
We saw the man taking shelter behind a boulder, too afraid to run away. I focused my eyes on the tornado, and saw Nick in the middle, still on his knees screaming.
Karen pushed her arms out in front of her, but nothing happened.
“Why won’t it work?” she yelled.
“You have to focus!”
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Then, she tried again.
Nick went flying and flew out of the tornado and into a tree. The massive thing slowly disappeared, and revealed what it had done.
No trees were in sight where that massive tornado of fire stood. All that laid there were ashes. Karen and I ran over to Nick and examined him. He moaned, and Karen rubbed his head.
“It’s okay, Nick. You’re safe now.”
We heard footsteps coming towards us, and we looked over. The man was walking over to us, reading anger in his eyes.
“You’re going to pay for that, you evil bastards!” He put his arms out in front of him, but Karen stepped up.
She pushed her arm out in front of her with extreme force, and the man’s right leg bent backwards, snapping and causing him to fall to the floor, crying in pain. I gagged, that being one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen.
The man kept screaming, grabbing his leg as it sat there, out of place. Karen put her hand up, and his other leg started to slowly do the same. The man let out a roar of pain, but I stopped her. I grabbed her shoulder and faced her towards me.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled in her face. She had a blank, sad expression on her face. She looked at me with as much sorrow as she could.
“It’s what has to be done.” She slowly turned around back at the man, and put her hand out. A sharp rock was sent flying and it pierced into the man’s side.
“Karen, I don’t think-”
“It’s what has to be done!” She shot a look back at me, having tears in her eyes. It was as if she knew who he was. I looked into her eyes, then back at the man who was whimpering in pain. I gulped, then shot a bolt at him.
It smacked right into his chest, sending him rolling back a few feet. I heard Nick as he slowly got up and formed a flame in his hand. He then threw it, having it ram into the man’s right shoulder. Through all of this, the man was crying out in pain.
“I know everything,” Karen said. “I know about your sister, Loren. I know about you running away from home. I know everything about you.” The man stopped grieving in pain and looked at Karen, still flinching from his leg.
“I don’t know why you saw the things you saw,” she said. “But those futures y
ou saw were wrong. I believe it in my heart that we would never do something like that. Sadly, you’ve been waiting for us for thirteen years. I know that you are determined to kill us.” The man gave her a look of anger and revenge.
I heard her as she sobbed, walking over to the man. She put her hand up, and the man went flying back, disappearing into the thick smoke left by the fire. She slowly walked in that direction, disappearing too. I followed, and so did Nick.
We met up with Karen shortly after, and we all stepped out and saw the man lying on the ash covered ground, moaning and sobbing in pain. We stood there for a second, then the man spoke up.
“You shouldn’t have done this,” he said. “I was trying to protect the world from you.” I heard Nick scoff from my side.
“Protect it from what?” The man started to laugh. “If anybody needs to be stopped, it’s you.”
Karen stepped up and sighed, kneeling down to face the man.
“Things didn’t have to be like this,” she said. “If you listened, you would understand.” Nick grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her up, away from the man.
“Don’t talk to him like he’s a person,” he said. “He tried to kill us for no reason. If his excuse is that we’re different, than he needs a news flash. So is he.” I nodded my head in agreement.
“He nearly killed us,” I said. The man’s muscles stiffened, and he quickly looked at Nick.
“Look around!” he yelled. “You did this! You nearly killed you and your friends! You’re a monster!” Nick kicked him in the ribs, causing him to scream in pain.
“Shut up!” he yelled.
Karen pushed Nick back and took his place. She gave the man a sympathetic look. She looked back at Nick and I and shook her head.
“They just don’t understand,” she said. “I understand. I understand everything. After what happened to you, I understand why you looked for someone to blame.” The man’s muscles stiffened again. “But we didn’t cause it. There’s no one else to blame but you.” She put her hand out in front of her, facing it towards the man.
“But what has to be done, has to be done.” She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Joshua.”
Her hand started to shake, and the man stopped breathing. He stopped moving and his breath stopped. He laid there dead as his lifeless eyes stared up at the sky. It sounded like Karen was trying to hold back a sob. Nick and I patted her on the shoulders sympathetically, and turned and walked away.
It took a second for her to follow, but she eventually did. We walked in silence out of the thick smoke, ash covering our shoes. That was a disturbing and sad moment that we just went through. We were all pretty shaken up.
“What did you do to him?” I asked. She hesitated, still trying to hold back sobs.
“I stopped his heart,” she said. I felt a shiver flow down my spine.
“How did you know all of those things you said?” I asked.
“I’d rather not say.” She gave one quick look at Nick. “Reasons that I shouldn’t say.” I didn’t bother her after that answer. That’s all I needed to hear.
After that, we continued walking to where we were going in the first place. But, we weren’t going that way to fight. We were going that way to leave this all behind us.
We were going to become normal again.
…..
Nick
As we walked through the trees and out of the forest, we all looked around. Life seemed to have continued on. Cars drove by. Businesses kept on running. Everything seemed normal.
We could hear the sirens in the distance as the fire department headed for the woods. The thick, black smoke still rose from the trees and into the clouds. A reminder of what I did.
“So... where do we go now?” Luke asked. I looked back at him and smiled.
“I think,” I said, “it’s time we part ways.” Luke closed his eyes, but knew it was coming. “As much as it hurts, we need to put this all behind us. We need to restart our lives.” Karen nodded her head at me. “In order to do that, we need to leave each other. We need to pretend this never happened. If we do that, it’s possible that we can be normal.”
“Yeah,” Karen said. “I’ve been thinking about it on the way here. I can get an apartment someplace and get a job. Sure, it’s not the best. But we can get by. Right?”
“Well,” Luke said. “I can’t go back home. After what happened at the school, I don’t think I can show my face there again.” He sighed and exchanged looks at Karen and I. “It’ll be tough to start over, but it won’t be impossible.”
We stood there in silence for a while, not wanting to say goodbye.
“I don’t think we should just completely forget about each other,” Karen said. “We should stay in touch, just in case something ever happens to one of us.” Her voice started to tremble and a tear dripped from her eye.
“We have a bond like nothing else. Though I wasn’t here for long, I feel like I’ve known you guys for a long time.”
Luke looked at me and I could see the sadness wallow up in his throat.
“I think she’s right,” he said. “We shouldn’t just forget about each other. Especially after that.” He stuck his hand out, and I took it, pulling him in and hugging him. Karen wrapped her arms around us, and we stayed like that for the longest time.
“Okay,” Karen said, sniffling and wiping her eyes. “I guess this is... goodbye.” She hugged each of us one more time, smiled a sad smile, then slowly turned and walked the other direction. Luke and I watched her until she was completely gone. It actually made me sad to see that.
Then, Luke and I met eyes. This was going to be tough.
“Well,” I said. “Take care of yourself, you hear?” He smiled and hugged me tight. I patted his back as he let go. “If you need anything, just give me a call. I’ll be over there to burn the place up.” We both laughed.
“Nick... I can’t thank you enough,” he told me.
“For what?”
“For making me see that I wasn’t alone in this world. You made me realize that I can be myself. You were a true friend to me. I will never forget what we went through, no matter how much you want me to.”
I grabbed his shoulder and felt the sadness in my throat now.
“You can’t even imagine how relieved I was when I met you. When I saw that I wasn’t the only one, every bit of sadness and loneliness disappeared. You were the true friend. I can’t even begin to thank you.”
We hugged again, and I felt the tears drip down my face. When he let go, he looked at me and smiled. Then he turned and walked away, crossing the street. When he got to the other side, he looked back at me. We met eyes for the last time, and he continued walking.
Let’s get one thing straight. What we could do didn’t make us different. The way we viewed life and the world is what made us who we are. The fact that I could create fire, Luke could shoot lightning, and Karen had Telekinesis wasn’t important. We weren’t dangerous, we weren’t evil, and we weren’t freaks.
We were special.
…..
Shadows in the Dark Page 20
